A New Year’s resolution is a tradition where a person makes a promise to family, friends, or even themselves in an act of self-improvement. It’s well documented that most New Year’s resolutions fail. However, if you keep making them every year you’re not alone. New Year’s resolutions are popular in the Americans and Western parts of Europe, but this tradition spans to several places around the world.

Let’s take a step back in time to see how this tradition started and how it’s changed over the course of time.  

It was said the ancient Babylonians were the first to make New Year’s resolution. They were the first to host celebrations honoring the New Year; dating back 4,000 years ago. Each year they would host a 12 day festival honoring their king. This religious festival was known as Akitu. They would either crown a new king or renew their loyalty and honor to the current king. These promises were the start of what we know today as New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept their promises, the gods would send gifts and grant favors to them the next year. If they did not keep their promises; they would fall out of the god’s favor. This would result in bad luck and poor fortune for the following year to come.

For early Christians, the celebration of the New Year was a time to self-reflect and reevaluate one’s past mistakes. Moving forward they would make promises to do better in the future. In the mid-1700s, John Wesley, English clergyman and founder of Methodism, held a Covenant Renewal Service that has helped shape the New Year’s commitments we are familiar with today. The Covenant Service, also known as the Watch Night Service, was often held on New Year’s Day or New Year’s Eve. The service included a religious mass of scripture reading and hymns and was a time to receive blessings from God and recommit to him during the following year. Today, in Evangelical Protestantism churches, Watch Night Services are still held on New Year’s Eve. They are celebrated with prayer and making resolutions for the upcoming year.

Despite the historical, religious connotation associated with New Year’s resolutions, today they are mostly a nonspiritual practice. Instead of making promises to the gods, they focus more on self-improvement by making promises to themselves. According to recent research, 45% of Americans still make New Year’s resolutions. Sadly only 8% follow through and successfully accomplish these goals by year’s end.     

Here is a list of the top 5 resolutions reported in 2016.

  1. Enjoy life to the fullest

  2. Live a healthier lifestyle

  3. Lose weight

  4. Spend more time with family and friends

  5. Save more, spend less